100 Kisses
by the freak down the street
Summary: "And guess what, you egocentric dickhead; I could get 100 guys to kiss me!" "Confident, are you, Sakura?" A bet gone right in all the wrong ways. SasuSaku.
1. the bet

**Standard disclaimer, yaahhh digg.**

**And a quick note, the first chapter's style is completely different from the rest of this story… it's a whole bundle casual**_erish_** :)… and yes, to my faithful readers, I am rewriting this. H8erZ gon' h8.**

**(and if it pleases you so, you can skip the first bit, I suppose.)**

* * *

_day 01 _7:54 am [after]

Sakura stared at the clock, willing the second hand to slow down with narrowed eyes as it passed the 7 and the bell went off. She nearly let out a panicked 'eek,' but tucked her bottom lip under her teeth to stop herself as her heart began _boom, boom, booming_ inside her chest.

She sharply turned her head away from the door to stare at her binder, eyeing the door as students began to shuffle in. Her body shrank farther into her chair as her classmates sat down in the room around her.

She barely noticed the noise and stopped pretending to be busy when he came into the room. Her chest hurt as the _boom, boom, booming _turned into _badump, boom, badump, boomboomboom, badump, boomboomboomboom, badump._

She was nervous and she stared, wide-eyed, like a deer caught in headlights as he walked by her and her iron grip on her pen didn't lighten the entire hour.

-x-

_day 05 _8:18 am [after]

Sakura was nervous. Incredibly. He had yet to even acknowledge her, but she could sense his anger underneath it all. In fact, the entire class could feel it brewing.

The room would become eerily cold and quiet when he entered and took his seat in the back of the room and her peers would remain utterly silent the entire hour, refusing to make a noise—much to the teacher's pleasure.

Sakura's hand shook as she attempted to continue to take notes, reminding herself to breathe every few seconds.

"Anyhow, just a quick reminder that _yes_ it may seem like finals are quite a while away, you _need _to start studying if you haven't already! The worst of high school is almost ov…"

Sakura tried to focus, but it was an uphill struggle that she lost.

-x-

_day 13 _8:39 am [after]

To say Sakura was confused, would be the most severe understatement imaginable.

Every day she held her breath as he walked into class, waiting for a confrontation, or a snide remark, or for his angry gaze to make contact with her sorry self—but it never came.

Nevertheless, she stayed unexplainably anxious whenever she saw him and it was hardly something she could control.

-x-

_day 27 _8:03 am [after]

_Pathetic_.

She could feel her tears welling up in her eyes. The majority of the class had gone back to talking boisterously (except for the meekest, nerdiest of the bunch) and girls had begun draping themselves all over him again.

Just like the day before, and the day before that, _and the day before that_ he walked into the class and just sat down at his desk.

It was like she wasn't even there. She was nonexistent.

And she supposed that perhaps that she should be grateful that he hadn't made her the social outcast of the school—that he hadn't brazenly given the entire school the freedom to mock and shun her.

But in all honesty, _this_ hurt more.

His ignoring—it broke her heart. Completely and utterly. He acted like she didn't mean anything, like she _never _mattered to him—like she _never _existed.

"Sasuke-kun, is it true that you have a girlfriend?"

Every fraction of Sakura's being froze.

"Yes."

She clenched her fists, lowering her head and letting her long hair cover her face as her tears wetted the desk, a voice in her head chanting _'pathetic, pathetic, pathetic'_ and another '_I told you so. It was too good to be true.'_

"_Awh_! How long have you guys been together?" She turned her head, watching him as he replied, making eye contact for a moment as he answered with a nonchalant shrug. "A few months."

She spun back around, her fingers covered her mouth to prevent her sob from escaping and she pressed her forehead against the desk, trying to stop her body from shaking.

"Hey… Haruno, you crying?"

She dabbed her eyes, weary of smudging her makeup. She looked up, to meet the look at the person that had asked, choosing to ignore the tens of eyes that were now trained on her. She could practically hear their sneers: _"she's always been in love with Sasuke-kun, doesn't she know that she doesn't stand a chance?"_

"Yeah…" a new resolve made itself known inside of her, and she let her eyes flicker over to _him_, their eyes catching again.

"…But it's nothing important." She finished quietly, her head screaming _'Lie, lie, lie.'_

But her rational side shut it up with a simple truth: _It was just a joke._

She looked back at her desk as tears began _drip, drip, dripping _down her face again.

'_I'm just a joke.'_

-x-

_day 43 _8:56 am [after]

She tucked a strand of her lengthy hair behind her ear, a smile on her face as she chattered quietly with the boy that sat next to her.

"Ay, Sakura. You have a really pretty face, why do you hide behind your long hair?"

Sakura spluttered unintelligibly both at the compliment and the question, trying to reply—('_because everyone says _he_ likes long hair.')—_but her only answer was a piece of her past that she wanted to bury away.

She smiled genuinely with a shrug as the bell rung. "I don't know."

-x-

_day 64 _8:37 am [after]

With her hair gone, it felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders (or more accurately, her head). It was nearly liberating and it made smiling easier—it made being happy possible.

These past three weeks of short-hairedness had been absolutely blissful.

And as ridiculously small and unimportant as it may have seemed, the symbolism behind her hair was quite clear-cut: _Sasuke-kun_—and it was a reminder she did not need; especially with him already plaguing her thoughts day in and day out just by breathing the same air as her.

And then he sauntered into class, handing the teacher a note that excused his lateness and the lightness on her heart was replaced with a brick.

She let out a sigh; it was the first of many steps to _get over it_, she supposed.

'_Baby steps.'_

-x-

_day 83 _7:49 [after]

It was odd. To an extent, even bizarre. With Sakura's resolve to move on, to _get over it_, it seemed that Sasuke made himself known, sneaking his way into her life and just about screaming for her attention. It angered her, and because of it, indifference was a skill she had been forced to master.

Sakura strolled into class, giving the room a quick onceover for a seat, before settling for one in the third row. Contently, she pulled out her phone, senselessly opening apps and closing them as she waited for class to begin.

Precisely three minutes later, _he _showed up, ambling into the room like he owned it. His very presence still made her incapable of breathing and it made her mad at everything in the world _except _him. As he made his way to her desk, stopping in front of it, she continued to busy herself with her purse, counting the loose change at the bottom, as if it was the most imperative thing in the world.

"Sakura." He paused, waiting for her to acknowledge his company.

She squeezed the strap of her bag, forcing a tight smile on her face before looking up at him.

"Good morning." She attempted to dismiss him with a wave of her hand but he stayed steadfast at her desk, dipping his hands into his pockets as he watched her.

She narrowed her eyes and his smirk made her question everything that was right in the world.

'_How can anyone be so gorgeous?'_

She kept her tone clipped and dismissive, "class is about to begin; you really ought to get to your seat."

He shrugged. "In case you failed to notice, _Sakura—_"

'_Damnyou,damnyou,damnyou,damnyou,damnyou.'_

"—nobody's even showed up, yet."

"Why, thank you for stating the obvious." She continued to pointlessly search in her bag, counting the 77 cents that was in it again. "I don't think I would have figured it out without you." She kept her voice flat and monotone, even with her insides turning into a hapless pile of slush.

Sakura did not miss the slight frown that etched itself onto his perfect face as he leaned down to look at her. She inconspicuously sucked in a breath, narrowing her eyes further at him.

"You'd be lost without me."

She didn't breathe again until he was in his seat—far, far, _far _away from her.

-x-

_day 89 _8:11 am [after]

With summer vacation creeping around the corner and exams finished, few students bothered to show up to school. Most were already gone, visiting the beaches before all the tourists came in.

But, there were a relative number of students that came to school anyways, to sit through six study halls at the teachers frantically finished up last minute grading.

Haruno Sakura was one of those students.

And much to her chagrin, so was Uchiha Sasuke.

The last two days, her first hour had been filled with her staring out the window, his gaze locked on her back as she huddled into herself to get away from it.

'_Paa-aaathetic!'_ The voice in her head would singsong.

'_Stop staring at me.' _She wished for mind control, because she would've made him move to Antarctica.

'_Then again,_' she deliberated _'that still wouldn't be far enough.'_

-x-

_day 93 _8:29 am [after]

_Hell. _

The simplest way to describe the last few days—trying to forget the object of all your affections as he shoots figurative lasers into your back with his freakishly smoldering eyes.

'_Ugh.'_

She sucked in some air before blowing it out, scrawling and doodling on her notebook as she waited for class to end.

"Class," the teacher glanced up at the nine students in the room. "I need to take some last minute grades up to the office." She stood up. "I trust that I can leave a few eleventh graders in my room without having to worry about a tornado when I get back?"

"Yes, sensei," the class mumbled back.

She shook her head, leaving the room. "Ten minutes. I'll be back. Continue your study hall."

Sakura read through some of her old text messages, reading through the ones from Ino that she had locked because they cracked her up to tears every time she read them.

"Sakura." Her heart leaped into her throat and she gulped it down. "Mind if I have a seat?"

"N-No." she entirely hated being taken by surprise. She cleared her throat before finishing. "Go right ahead."

He sat down and she wanted to shove her pencil into her chest to stop her heart from being so _stupid._

"I can't help but wonder why you're at school." Sakura panicked, unsure whether it was a statement or a question that she should answer and before she could properly analyze, her mouth was answering and she was blurting out her reason: "I'd rather not miss any days."

'_Geek to the max, 'Kura. Well done.'_

To her surprise, he smirked. "I'm not surprised; school's always been a priority for you."

She nodded numbly, her wall of indifference crumbling. "Yeah," she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I guess for you too." She took another stab at a careless attitude.

He nodded once before silence fell upon them.

Before she could stop herself, she continued on blabbing.

"I mean, you've always considered education important. You've been taking AP classes since freshman year and you're already taking a math and science course at U of K…" he raised an eyebrow and she felt her face heating up. "I mean, that's what I heard." She finished, lamely.

It was pitiable how quickly her resolution died with his attention.

'_Indifference, indifference, indifference!'_

"It's true." He said simply.

Again, she couldn't stop herself from rattling on. "It's really admirable, Sasuke-kun. To be in eleventh grade and taking classes at such a prestigious university? It's quite a feat."

She was completely taken aback when he let out a laugh—it sent chills down her spine. It sounded outright malicious. "You're _still _in love with me, aren't you Sakura?"

Her throat constricted and her heart apprehensively skipped a beat "No…" her voice was quiet and meek and she hated herself for it when he laughed again, her form freezing with the cruelty behind it.

"Lying is bad, Sakura." He tutted like he was scolding a child, his eyes dark and uncaring.

Her crumpled and torn heart hurt more with his concealed declaration of indifference. She looked up at him, his face distorted through her tears.

She stared at him, taking in the smirk on his face and the blackness of his eyes. "I…I…"

"Honestly, Sakura, speak up. You're being a little _annoying_."

She didn't notice the falter in his smirk as she smeared her makeup whilst getting rid of her tears. She stared at him solemnly, the last fraction of her first love breaking apart.

She couldn't remember why she was so hopelessly in love with him. At the time, all she could see was an asshole, a complete _jackass_ who had robbed her of the wonders and the sweetness that was supposed to be your _first love_.

It angered her and she stood up, uncaring of the other few students in the room. "I hate you." She swore, her voice quiet, but steady. She wouldn't be weak now—_no. _She needed to be unyielding and strong.

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, after all.

"I hate you." She repeated, the words ringing truth that broke her heart further and strengthened her determination. "Do you _hear _me, Uchiha Sasuke? _I hate you_. With every fiber of my very being, I hate you. I hate every piece of you. Every little bit of _you _that makes you _you. _From your inability to be genuine, to your pessimism to your egocentricity to your incapability to _fucking _smile because you are a heartless jackass who, without a doubt in my mind, will die with no one at your side because, in all truthfulness, good looks will only get you so far before people notice that you're a dull, lackluster piece of worthless _nothingness_." She shook her head in wonder as her revelation came to an end. "I absolutely cannot stand you, Uchiha Sasuke."

She picked up her stuff, making her way to the exit of the room. "And, Sasuke-_kun_?"

She didn't wait for a response.

"You can burn in Hell for all I care."

And the door slammed shut behind her.

**x**

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**- x -**

**100 Kisses**

_The Bet_

**- x -**

The _love _that one Haruno Sakura had felt had utterly vanished that day. It had left her angry at herself and angry at the absurd concept of _love_. But, most importantly, it left her furious with Uchiha Sasuke. In place of her love, her mind had instilled a hate so strong that it screeched for his blood smeared across the walls of Konoha High and a desire to wear his intestines as a necklace.

Yes, indeed. Gory.

And while some argue that _no,_ indifference is the way to go; Sakura would look them in the eye and smile politely as she proclaims "No, good sir. I respectfully disagree!"

Because, in all honesty, feeling indifference to Uchiha Sasuke was impossible. After all, she had tried—and failed _miserably._

It was an impossibility. A ludicrous notion that deserved to be laughed and ridiculed like a glittery, pink paper mache volcano at a high school science fair.

Especially to someone who was head over heels in love with the guy for _three years_.

Just the thought of the memory of the _thought _made her clench her fists and grit her teeth in fury and resentment.

_Gr_.

'_Anyhow,_' she mused. _'He's a rich, spoiled, heartless asshole with no concern for anybody but himself.' _She scoffed inwardly. _'Who cares if he's a walking, talking Adonis? Not me, that's what I'll tell ya!'_

(She was not so deep in her hateful delusion as to deny the obvious.)

She continued on her merry way to class, a slight bounce in her step and a ghost of a smile on her mouth at the reflection on what an egomaniacal _douchebag _Uchiha Sasuke was.

She let out a content sigh as the 7:55 bell rang.

Today was going to be a good day.

She could _feel _it.

(Frankly, you'd think by now she'd know better than to trust her always erroneous instincts.)

-x-

Her summer had been far from the magnificence her mind had conjured up. No summer flings, no bad decisions, no dream job, no _anything_.

A horrible disappointment, indeed.

And after such an uneventful summer, she had sworn that senior year was going to be _different._ She would seep impulsiveness and stop overanalyzing and trying to dissect everything. She would be young and wild and free.

The question at this point is _where _did she go wrong?

Three weeks into senior year, with September coming to an ordinary, run of the mill end Sakura was absolutely livid with the boringness that she currently called life.

Considering her already incensed self, she walked into her first hour with an attitude that was borderline demonic.

She swung open the door and made her way to the seat at 8:00 am, the classroom still mostly vacant.

She could almost laugh at the emptiness of the classroom—the majority of the class didn't bother to show up until usually 10-15 minutes into class because the teacher hardly ever showed up until half way through class.

'_It's a wonder that he still has his job,'_ she mused silently, unsure of what to do with herself as she waited. She settled with pulling out a book, one that she took everywhere with her—_Pride and Prejudice_.

'_Hell yeah. Find me some Mr. Darcy and I'll be damn happy.'_

She flipped open the book, fully engrossed in the masterful piece of literature when she felt _it._

Or, _err, _him.

She couldn't concentrate on the words anymore when he walked by her and took his seat, seemingly deeply occupied by the conversation he was having on his phone.

"I'll talk to you later."

Sakura strained her ears to hear a feminine voice say something _not _PG13.

"Yeah, okay. Bye."

How is it that they had classes together, _again_? The last three weeks of dealing with having to breathe the same oxygen as him had been repulsive and she contemplated trying to hold her breath for the entire hour—he made her want to pull her hair out and scream the Heaven. For the most part, he did not need to do a thing to incur her wrath, but today she bore in mind that he had the _nerve_ to come into a _place of learning_ while his dirty, little _skank-whore _promised to do things to him later tonight that were unholy in every aspect and would make his momma cry about the loss of her innocent little boy.

Unable to restrain herself, she snapped at him. "This may surprise you, you vain, pompous fool but class started three minutes ago and you aren't exempt to the rules no matter how strongly you believe otherwise."

He barely batted an eyelash in her direction, while the few in the classroom gaped at her audacity. While it was well-known that Sakura had renounced her feelings towards him and instead had taken it upon herself to hate him with every ounce of her being—this was the first time anybody had had the privilege of seeing her hatred in action.

It was quite an honor.

"In case you failed to notice, Sakura." His voice was slightly amused, further angering Sakura. "The room is empty."

She blinked, lost in a memory for a moment—'_Déjà vu.'_

"All because nobody's around to see you murder something, doesn't make it _okay_." She ignored the lameness of her comeback and the fallacy in her logic, crossing her arms and turning around to glower at him.

"Your intelligence shall never cease to amaze me, _Sakura_. Your comparison is beyond brilliant. No wonder you're _sixth _in the class."

Sakura felt his insult right in the gut and her fists clenched together as her insides began to simmer. How dare he—_Ugh_. She kept a façade of lack of interest as he stared at her. "Pleased with your insult, are you dickwad? It was wonderfully second grade and I guess I was under a misassumption believing you could do better than that_."_

'_And, see my foot? I'm ready to shove it so far up your ass that shit comes out of your mouth!'_

Someone gasped and Sakura covered her mouth. Did she just—_oh shit._

Sasuke actually look astounded for a moment and Sakura almost patted herself on the back. But, being the Uchiha he was, a cold mask of unresponsiveness was on his face before she could even be certain she saw him show emotion.

"I'm impressed, Sakura." He drawled. "Your retort was actually clever. You have my attention, so please _confess_ anything you have to tell me."

His implication was clear as day and she stood up. "Get over yourself. I swear your dick is supposed to be in your pants and not synonymous with yourpersonality."

"Really, Sakura. I'm pretty sure _you _should get over _me_. It's passed the point of pitiful."

Sakura inwardly seethed, stalking towards him and slamming her hand on his desk, more infuriated when it did not faze him in the slightest. "I'm so, so, _so _very sorry, Sasuke! I cannot help but be desperately in love with you! I mean, you're absolute perfect!"

She paused, coming to a fictional realization. "_Hm_… If I do recall, however, I'm far past over you. I remember quite vividly letting you know what a conceited asshole you have a tendency to be. After all, from my understanding of your character I'm sure you're the type of _man_ to go home and stare at your reflection for hours on end due to your narcissistic worship for yourself." She laughed. "I'm near positive it pleases your ego to know there are ignorant, innocent little high school girls devoted to the very ground you walk on, more than ready to kiss your feet." She sighed. "I didn't think I'd have to remind you that these girls will grow up, and like me, will come to the conclusion that you are nothing more than a worthless shit who will have nothing on his deathbed."

Sasuke stood up, refusing to back down from such a blatant challenge. "And if I recall, Sakura. You were one of those _ignorant, innocent high school girls _devoted to the ground I walk on for how long? Six months? A year? _Longer, _I believe. And your belief that high school will define the rest of my life is juvenile and foolish, more pathetic than the _unrequited love _you had for so long—"

"Shut up, shut up, shut up!" She didn't need to hear what a fool she'd been and she shoved at his chest with every other word.

He grabbed her wrists, holding them tightly and forcing her to look at him.

'_I will not cry.' _She swore to herself, refusing to look away.

It seemed like an eternity of them staring at each other, locked in a never ending deadlock when Sasuke finally made a move.

_He kissed her._

A hand tangled in her hair and another pulling her closer to him, shaping her against him to near perfection.

And even though it was everything she dreamt it would be Sakura's rationale had long since beaten her heart, which was soaring high, into a submissive pulp. _'No. He hurt you. He's playing you, again. Don't let him break you again.' _The conflict between her heart and logic was a struggle she couldn't understand but she did remember how he hurt her and with that justification she did the unthinkable.

She _slapped _him.

The slap to end all dramatic high school slaps.

The room because soundless, the class now staring at the two in complete shock—confused by both sides of the modern soap opera occurring before their very eyes.

Haruno Sakura? The girl who had followed Uchiha Sasuke like a puppy for three long years, always loyal and hopelessly shy… had she just _slapped _him?

A few heads exploded, spraying brain juice against the window, a terrible contrast with the bright autumn sky.

And _Uchiha Sasuke_? The infamous jackass that guys wanted to be and girls wanted to be _under_? The icy bastard that hundreds of girls chased after just as hopelessly as Sakura… he just _kissed _Sakura? Willingly? _What._

The rest of the heads exploded.

But the stars of the show were too absorbed in each other, locked in a fierce glower off.

"You just _slapped _me."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious. My shirt is also blue."

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

Sakura drew back slightly with his choice of words—Uchiha Sasuke just _cursed_. The infamous keep-my-cool Uchiha just _snapped._

Her blood ran cold and she forced herself to hold her head up high. "You _kissed _me, asshole. What exactly warranted that acceptable in your deranged mind?"

Sasuke scoffed. "Forgive me, Sakura." His sarcasm was iced with frigidness. "But I cannot help but wonder why you aren't appreciative of the _sacrifice _I just made, considering I am _positive _that no other man will ever kiss you. Besides, a thousand other girls would have given up plenty to be you at _that _moment."

Sakura's fingers itched to slap him again and then proceed to pick up a chair and beat him into a bloody pulp.

'_And I was in love with this asshole?'_

"No, Sasuke-sama! Forgive me! I am eternally grateful to the sacrifice you have made by giving me the gift of Gonorrhea! Oh, and your modesty, Sasuke-sama! It is just too much to bear!" She shuffled back a few inches, the closeness making her head dizzy. She bit her lip, before finishing immaturely. "And guess what, you egocentric _dickhead_? I could get 100 guys to kiss me!"

Sasuke let out a bitter laugh before closing the distance between them again, a finger under her chin forcing her to lock eyes with him. Again, her heart went frantic, but she refused to look away.

"Confident, are you, Sakura?" His voice was lethal silk, turning her insides into mush.

"Damn right, I am."

"Then, do we have a bet?"

Sakura could finally breathe normally when he pulled away and extended his hand towards her.

She fought back the urge to bare her teeth at him and she snatched his hand, sure to dig her nails into the back of his hand.

"Yes _Sasuke-kun_, we do."

* * *

_Dun, dun, duuuh! The suspense is killing you! Anyways, this is unedited, i was just incredibly excited to get this out (I still have to read a chapter about social perception and attitudes for psych... FML) and have been putting my homework off for days while I worked on this! My point is, I never took the time to check for grammar mistakes, so if you see them, feel free to point them out! But, please. Don't be a dickhead about it :)  
_

_And here's an excerpt from a future chapter!_

"You call that _banter_? Are you _dumb? _Socially-inept, perhaps? That's called _harassment _or, in layman's terms _being a fucking dick_."

_This excerpt won't come for a while, but for those hating Sasuke... he's a social retard. You can't blame him, it's in his genes! _

_And,_ this_ rewrite, I believe. I've changed a lot—I feel like with the direction I'm going into now, this story has more actual substance but is still as fun and all over the place as before :)_

_Please tell me what you think! If you've reviewed this before and have been a wonderful supporter (as there are many of you) send me a PM with your opinion—I really appreciate feedback :)_

_and my goal is to have chapter two up by the end of February. (Thankfully, this year I have an extra day :'D)_

_ & this has sat _untouched _for two years. I am damn proud of myself, if I do say so myself, for jumping back on this :D_

_(PS. Posting this was absolutely nerve-wracking. I'm almost positive I'm hyperventilating right now.)  
_


	2. incarceration & catching 22

**I'm swaggerjackin' all dem hoes.**

**[Insert generic disclaimer here.]**

**Unedited, I apologize.**

* * *

_kisses: zero _8:14 am

Immediately after Sakura shook Sasuke's hand, a picture of what she had just done entered her mind.

That picture included Sasuke with devil horns and Sakura in shackles at his feet.

She stared at him wide-eyed for a moment, watching to see his reaction.

_He smirked_.

The cheek of the guy never ceased to amaze her.

In response, she narrowed her eyes and with a huff, turned on the heels of her shoes and walked to her desk with as much dignity as she could muster, ignoring her mile-a-minute heart.

She sat down, straightening her notebook and tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, viciously gnawing at her bottom lip. Taking a deep breath that started at the pit of her jumpy stomach, she tried clearing her mind.

Again, she imagined a horned-Sasuke forcing her to lick peanut butter off his foot.

_Or something of the sort._

'_Oh crap.'_

-x-

Seven minutes later, after sitting in uncomfortable quietness (because Sasuke was sure to sadistically glare at those who dared to start talking), their teacher finally showed up, over twenty minutes late.

Sakura was too unbalanced at the time to go her usual bananas on her teacher with her stern, disapproving look, and her teacher detected her anxiety.

"No commentary today, Sakura?"

In response, she let out an unfeminine groan.

"Okay…" he turned to address the entire class. "Let me just give you my deepest, most sincere apology for my unpunctuality, you see, this is what hap—"

"Sasuke kissed Sakura!"

"And then Sakura slapped him!"

And gossip broke out across the room, the students of Konoha High immune to Sasuke's glare with an authoritative figure so close by.

However, Sasuke's eyes promised: _just you wait, my friends._

"Wait, what? Sasuke-kun kissed_ her_?"

"Yeah, yeah I was right here!"

"Nu-_uh._"

"Would I lie to you?"

"She was such a bitch to him, too! Like, what's her issue?"

"Bro, finally somebody stuck it to Uchiha, he can be such a self-righteous bitch sometimes."

"They did _what_?"

"Yeah and I heard th—"

"You're kidding?"

"He's totally ri—"

Kakashi cleared his throat and crossed his arms over his chest. "Hush."

The babble died down slowly.

He cleared his throat again, looking pointedly at the two students who were at the center of all the attention. "If you would: Sasuke, Sakura."

He motioned them over. "_Now._"

Sakura twisted and turned her fingers, holding them to her chest as she made her way to his desk, where he was leaning with an air of casualness.

Sakura stiffened when she felt Sasuke's presence next to her.

"Care to explain what you do in _my _classroom when I'm not around?"

Sasuke made a noncommittal grunt and Sakura was astounded at his impudence. At the end of the day, Kakashi was still the teacher, no matter what an idiot he had the affinity to act like.

"Wonderful, Sasuke. Back to antisocial animal noises, are we?"

Sasuke's eyes thinned into slits.

"You will explain what happened." He glanced over Sasuke's shoulder at the quiet class, who was hell-bent on listening to the conversation after what they had just learned, in fact physically leaning forward to listen closer.

"Get into groups of three and write a summary of the passage you were supposed to read last night and include the importance of the symbolism." He paused, relishing in the groans that filled the room. "And if you haven't read it, I suggest you do that now. This will be worth fifteen assessment points."

The groans grew louder and the room split up. Kakashi crossed his arms over his chest. "Now, Sasuke; if you would."

"She hit me." He sounded bitter; his ego and pride was hurt much worse than the reddening mark on his face.

Kakashi nodded and glanced at Sakura who began to stammer unintelligibly. "H-He _kissed _me! That's sexual harassment! It was self-defense, sensei! What was I supposed to do? Be violated?"

If she was going down, she was dragging Sasuke down with her.

"PDA is strictly forbidden on campus," Kakashi continued on as if she hadn't spoken and Sakura snorted, as if Kakashi didn't pass tens of couples almost dry-humping every morning, "so take your love affair elsewhere." Kakashi decided to dismiss the issue—after all; both were straight A, top ranking students.

"Love affair? Hardly, sensei!" Sakura exclaimed, adamant in stressing that she detested him.

"Let me reiterate that she _hit _me. I believe, according to school rules, a minimum of a three day suspension is in order."

Sakura gawked at Sasuke. "He's right, sensei. And _sexual harassment _warrants a police report!"

Sasuke turned and she glared into his eyes.

(Or so it would seem; she became so lost in his dark eyes so fast, instead she concentrated on his eyebrows.)

'_They're nicer than mine…'_

"…And _he _started it!"

"We're in second grade, are we Haruno?"

"Sh." A plan (for the sake of his own amusement) formed in Kakashi's mind. "Sasuke, you're right."

"Sensei!" Sakura could almost feel tears beginning to well, her chest starting to constrict with the coming sobs. A _suspension_? She chewed over hitting Sasuke where it _really _hurt for the mess he'd put her in.

"…and so is Sakura."

"What?"

Sakura almost shoved a triumphant finger in Sasuke's face and did a happy, little victory dance. She restrained herself though, barely hiding her grin.

"Therefore, considering you two have nearly spotless records," he intentionally gave Sasuke a look, "I suppose a few detentions would fill the punishment requirement."

Sakura opened her mouth to argue, but at the last minute thought better of it. Any other teacher would have given them the suspension and dismissed them on the spot—Kakashi wasn't even slapping their wrists; he was _tapping _them.

"H-Hai." She stuttered, her overly creative mind imagining a detention at the end of a dark hallway that smelled of cocaine and booze. "I-I…" she could feel her bottom lip trembling.

(She was perhaps, the geekiest girl known to man.)

"Today, report to my room afterschool I will be administering a punishment to you _lovebirds_ that I deem fit."

"No."

Sakura looked at Sasuke incredulously.

"Two weeks."

"No."

"_Three _weeks."

"N—" Sakura dug her nails into Sasuke's arm. "Hai, sensei! Yes! Okay. Three weeks! We got it!" she smiled.

"You only have a week, Sakura. Sasuke's the one with three weeks." Kakashi smiled and his eyes crinkled.

'_I shoulda let him keep going, Sasuke's an idiot…'_

"Oh, okay." She smiled weakly.

"…But if you miss a day, I'm adding a week to your sentence."

Sakura nodded, her already pathetic smile shrinking. _'My sentence? I feel like a criminal.'_

"Alrighty then!" Kakashi smiled broadly and Sakura pondered for a minute, wondering when the last time he took the time out to shave was, "I guess you two will be working together! Everybody else is already in groups for the project."

"What project?" Sasuke interjected.

"_Four weeks_."

Sasuke's eyes narrowed into slits and Kakashi smile grew even bigger—Sakura was sure he would split his face in half. "Now, you two take a seat while I explain to the whole class."

Again, Sasuke made an incoherent sound in his chest as she sat down in a desk at the front of the room, an irate aura flowing out of him.

"Class!" With a loud clap, he called for everyone's attention. "The groups you're currently in right now will be the groups you'll be working with for the next project," He paused, waiting for the mixture of groans and cheers to die off. "This project will count for fifteen percent of your semester grade, so do not take it lightly. I'll give you the rubric tomorrow, but essentially you will be taking popular books and rewriting the end." He moved to lean against his desk. "And I don't want any of you pulling any _'they're actually all aliens and secretly planning to take over the universe'_ crap. If I find anything ridiculous like that, automatic D—I do not care how creative it is."

"Write down the names of the people in your group. I will be assigning books to every group next week." He moved to sit behind his desk. "You may write down a book you'd prefer, or a genre or theme, but I make no promises."

"After that, just finish the assignment and sit in your groups—try to keep the volume to a minimum, understood?"

The class filled with mumbled 'yes's as everyone turned to watch Sasuke and Sakura.

Sakura gave her teacher a long look, but he was engrossed in his book to notice.

'_Fan-freakin'-tastic.'_

-x-

_kisses: zero _8:54 am

An eventful morning it had been, that's for sure.

Sakura had sat with Sasuke, their names scrawled on a paper with no idea what genre they would prefer, and instead turned in just a paper with their names.

"Oh, you guys are fine with anything?" Kakashi's mischievous eyes made her want to shake her head, but after seeing the Kakashi-Sasuke display she just nodded, unwilling to go through four weeks of detention.

"Of course, sensei!" she chirped, making her way back to her desk.

She sat in discomfort next to Sasuke, humming to herself.

"Stop that, it's irritating me."

"A ray of sunshine, aren't you?" Sakura seethed sardonically.

He smirked.

She fumed.

When the 9 o'clock bell rang, Sakura could not have been happier. She picked up her binder and her purse, following the crowd that was bustling onto their second hour.

"Hey, Sakura," said pinkette spun on her heels, putting her binder down.

Sakura was stunned into silence when Sasuke grabbed her wrist just as she was about to storm out of the room and call Ino with the _deets_.

"Wh—" The words died in her throat when he pulled her up against his chest, her hands trapped against his chest.

He leaned closer and Sakura found that she couldn't properly inhale as she futilely struggled in his arms. "Get off of me." She took pride in the solidness of her voice and the monotone behind it.

Her aloofness didn't faze him though and he leaning closer and pressing his lips to hers, _again_, in a ghost of a kiss that stole her breath away (and that lack of oxygen made her arms and legs go tingly as he pulled away).

"Sasuke." Kakashi sounded scandalized and Sakura's mouth was dry as she stared at Sasuke's jaw while he was turned and talking to their English teacher.

"Hai, sensei?"

"Don't _'hai, sensei_?' me. What exactly do you think you're doing? What the hell did I just say?"

He shrugged carelessly. "I figured 'innocent until proven guilty'." He smirked at Sakura, and it unnerved and wounded her and all in all simply pissed her off.

"Great policy." She said sarcastically as she felt hot, angry tears began to poor down her cheeks. She dug her nails into the palms of her hands, grabbing Sasuke by his right shoulder and forcing him to face her as he turned to leave.

The sound of the slap seemed to echo through the room and Sakura tried desperately to control her breathing with all the adrenaline running through her body.

"Innocent until proven guilty." She sneered, hitching her purse onto her shoulder and roughly brushing passed him when he looked like he was about to reply.

When the door slammed shut deafeningly Kakashi began a fit of hysterical laughter.

"You're a real dumbass; you know that?"

**x**

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**- x -**

**100 Kisses**

_incarceration & catching 22_

**- x -**

"…And then he kissed me, _again_! Ino, if I could kill anybody, I would gut him like a fish without a moment of hesitation! He drives me up the freakin' wall!" Sakura tugged at her hair, pulling out a few strands in her craze.

"What a pleasant little thing you are," Ino crinkled her nose, poking at what she considered inedible fries. "And don't mention gutting poor defenseless animals in front of me."

"My apologies, bearing in mind what a ruthless bitch around school you are it's easily forgettable that you actually have a heart."

"Everyone that faces my wrath deserves it." Ino shrugged, reapplying her shiny lip gloss. "I never screw with anybody unless they go after me first."

It was true. Ino was coldblooded when it came to protecting her reputation and the other girls that tried so hard to be as cutthroat as she was failed miserably. Sakura nodded at her inner realization, suddenly very thankful that Ino was unquestionably on her side. She was _not _somebody Sakura ever wanted to be on the wrong side of.

Ino patted Sakura's back as she absentmindedly finished off her juice box. "And don't trouble yourself with all of this. This whole bet thing will blow over by the end of the week." She popped her lips and tucked her lip gloss into a pocket of her designer purse, "And by Halloween you'll be back to your sulky, whiny, Sasuke-obsessed self!"

Sakura bonked her best friend on the head. "Your concern for my feelings touches my heart!" She snapped. "But then again, it's not like he's the biggest asshole on this side of the planet or anything. It's not like I cried to you on the phone month after month because he's got the emotions of a _rock_! No, no, no. It's not like I thought I was in love with him for three years or anything! Nope, nope, nope!"

Ino sighed. "Oh, sweetheart. Not this, again." She pulled her sunglasses out of her purse and perched them on top of her nose and shook her head slowly. "We had conversations about your heartbreak night after night. Actually, I can't even call them conversations; it was one-sided _bitching._"

Her bluntness stunned Sakura into silence.

"Frankly, Sakura, I love you to pieces but this has got to stop. I thought this was over. I thought your crying and hurting was done, but I guess not." She shrugged. "He's not going to change. He's always been like this and you need to stop letting it get to you. Even if he does the littlest thing like _sneeze_ I get a four page text about what a horrible person he is! It's a tad irritating—considering we all have feelings and it's not all about you."

_Ouch. _That stung.

But Sakura heard the truth in her words. "I'm sorry, Ino. I…" she let her voice trail off when Ino pulled her into a hug.

"You're a hot, reckless mess, Forehead. You're as lost as you were in third grade." Sakura started chuckling and Ino cut her off by covering her mouth. "I'm not done yet, babe."

"This little bet thing is the only douchebagish—"

"Your vocabulary is beautiful." Sakura cut in sarcastically and Ino shoved her fingers into her mouth.

"No interrupting, smartass." She cleared her throat noisily. "As I was saying; this whole little bet thing is the only," she took a moment, as if deep in thought. "—_malignant_ thing Sasuke's done since _The Thing_ and yes, that was a horrible thing to do but I just want to say that you need to _get the hell over it_. How do you expect to get over him when all you do is obsess over him? And, no. _Obsess_ is not an overstatement. You say you're over him and _hate _him with the _passion of a thousand suns_—God, I spend too much time with Lee—but he's still something you talk about on a daily basis."

Sakura pulled Ino's fingers out of her mouth. "I do not." She insisted.

"Oh, but you do. '_Today, Sasuke just stared out the window. He thinks he's cool or something.' _And '_there's always, like, forty girls all around him. If he thinks he's a hot piece of ass, he's sorely mistaken.' _And _'God, his ego is bigger than his nose!' _And—"

"Okay. What's your point? I get it. Okay. I'm obsessed with him. Sorry for worrying you with my problems. I'm trying, okay? _I'm trying._"

"That's not good enough, Sakura. And don't you dare try to turn this on me. I am always there for you. _Always_. You say you're trying to get over him but I have to wonder _how _you're trying. Instead of all dreamy-eyed, you're all stormy-eyed now. Either way, he's still your sole focus in life."

"Well, Miss. Whore-around, I hardly think I should be getting advice on my love life from _you_."

"Your love life? What love life? A fixation on a guy that has never given you the time of day is not a _love life._"

"And _you, _whoring around with every guy who smiles at you because you're in love with a guy who likes the school butch? Is that a love life?"

It was still and silent between them when one of them finally chirped:

"We're pretty screwed up, eh?"

-x-

The day went on to irritate her with the constant gossiping and whispering around her in all her classes.

And then after school, she was being forced to endure two hours of grading freshman papers in Kakashi's room, and her mood had worsened.

"Sakura, will you run down to room 35a and photocopy this for me?"

She nodded, gladly willing to leave the awful essays. When she went to grab the stack from Kakashi, her jaw dropped when she took in what he was reading.

"Sensei!" she was appalled. "W-What are you reading?"

He shrugged.

"You shouldn't be reading that, _especially _at school!"

"You shouldn't be abusing your classmates, _especially _at school!" Her teacher mimicked her and Sakura glowered when Sasuke snickered.

And for the first time ever, Sakura insulted a teacher.

'_Bastard_.'

(Inwardly, of course).

-x-

_2:13—_School had barely been out for fifteen minutes and there were still a few people lingering in the hallways, taking their sweet time getting home.

"_You!_" Sakura looked up to see a crowd of angry girls practically stampeding at her.

"Can I help you?" she crossed her arms over her chest, rolling up the papers in her right hand.

"Where the hell do you get off kissing Sasuke?"

Sakura's mouth twitched.

"I mean, like, everybody knows that you were _obsessed _with him last year but you need to get over it! Like, he has a girlfriend. And, like, no offense, but he could do a lot better than you."

Sakura's mind urged her to start a full on girl fight that would involve hair pulling, earring removing and nail scratching.

But alas, her rationale side was like '_um… no.'_

"There are a few things I would like to point out," she started vehemently, uncrossing her arms to look nonchalantly at her nails. "_One, _judging by your overuse of the word 'like', I'm going to assume that your brain is the size of a tic-tac. _Two_, you and your sheep," she motioned to the crowd of girls, "are a waste of precious, precious oxygen and should be euthanized so that your bodies, though they may be half-starved because of _your _obsessions with looking like popsicle sticks, may be preserved so that future scientists can study the primitive mind." she paused, casually turning to make eye contact with the leader of the group.

All was quiet for a moment before Sakura finished her speech with a screechy, "And I'm not obsessed with Sasuke!"

The girl blinked. Once, twice, thrice. She opened her mouth and then closed it again, closely resembling a fish out of water.

Sakura smirked when she finally replied with a "You so, so are!" with a haughty flip of her hair she continued. "I don't even know why I'm trying to reason with you. You're obviously nothing but a slut if you kissed a guy with a girlfriend."

"Oh, please, like you give a shit. You're just mad because he kissed _me_." Sakura fired back. "And last time I checked, Sasuke's _very _single, so _no_. I am not a slut."

"I should've known better than to reason with you. It's probably just a rumor anyways. As if Sasuke would kiss the likes of _you_." Another haughty hair flip. "Look at you. How much do you weigh? _110_? And your stringy hair? And," she barked out a nasally laugh "_that forehead_. I'm pretty sure it's, like, as big as a dinosaur."

Sakura didn't have a chance to mock the sheer idiocy of her terrible simile, because her body was moving before she could properly think things out.

_She punched her._

Square in the jaw.

The papers in her right hand scattered and she stared in complete horror at her hand, which was curled in a fist. _'I did not just—'_

"_Bitch_!" The girl retaliated by grabbing a fistful of Sakura's hair when she was still staring, stricken, at her hand.

"Ow!" Sakura clawed at her arm; pinching just above her elbow.

The girl let go and Sakura considered her two options: _fight or flee._ Fighting, she would probably get a good few bruises on her but then her little group of friends would bond together and smack her around like a rag doll and punch her in the mouth and then her teeth would fall out and then nobody would love her—not to mention, what respectable school would take her if she got suspended for fighting?

She could feel herself beginning to hyperventilate at the thought of a directionless future—so that left option _deux._

Flee.

Sakura turned on her heels and ran.

-x-

She wasn't sure if the she-demon and her minions were following her, but she wasn't stopping until she was safely in Kakashi's classroom. There was no way she was risking her future.

A life of managing fast food restaurants scared her too much.

Suddenly lost in thoughts of how horrible her life would be as day after day she was forced to ask with the fakest of smiles '_Want fries with that?_', she turned a sharp corner, too late to stop herself from smacking into someone.

She stumbled back and then began apologizing profusely. "Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry."

"_Sakura_!"

Sakura let out a half-shriek at the sound of her name, all set to dart away when her mind went _'That's Kakashi's voice, stupid.'_

She sighed in relief.

"Where are the papers I asked you to photocopy? And it's been nearly twenty minutes!"

"I dropped them…" Sakura nibbled at her bottom lip for a moment as her voice trailed off, "and I heard a noise so I freaked out." She finished weakly.

Kakashi nodded, clearly not believing her but letting it slide. "Go pick them up." She nodded as he addressed the student she had bumped into. "And Gaara, I'm almost certain that you're supposed to be in detention."

Sakura's blood ran cold—she had run into _Gaara_? As in psychopath Gaara who finds amusement in making people bleed? Psychopath Gaara who beat Lee into a blood pulp sophomore year because he didn't like his face? She had bumped into _that _Gaara?

Sakura nearly let out a wail.

'_My life is over.'_

-x-

_Create: New Message [SMS]  
Select Contact: Ino Y  
Message: I'M FREAKING OUT!_

Sakura pulled her hair into a low bun (high ones were impossible with short hair—half her hair refuses to stay up and then she ends up looking like she has some awkward variation of a mullet) and sat down on the edge of her bed, unplugging her phone from its charger. Her palms were sweaty, and she was far from ready to face school today.

_Zzz! Zzzzzz! Zzz!_

"Don't be a drama queen." She read aloud. _'She's the biggest help.'_

Sakura wrinkled her nose, putting her phone down and kicking up the sheets, braving the cold September air.

"Dear Dad," she mumbled to herself, "stop being a cheapskate and turn on the damn heat." She muttered, dashing to her bathroom.

After washing her hair, straightening it, and applying the perfect amount of eyeliner and mascara, Sakura was more than ready to go.

"Sakura, breakfast!"

"I'm not eating!" She hollered back, misting herself with _Apple Vanilla Bean _and sliding her phone into her pocket and hiking up her uniform skirt just enough to look good without being sluttish.

"Haruno Sakura!"

Green eyes rolled and Sakura made her way downstairs, "_What?_"

"Don't ignore me!"

"I wasn't! It's not my fault you're so old you can't hear properly."

"What was that?"

"_See_!" Sakura snickered and her father threw a blueberry at her. "Here I am, making my daughter pancakes and she's calling me old!" He shook his head, "Let me tell you, Sakura. Don't have kids—they'll end up just like you. Horrible and ungrateful."

"Dad, you're the biggest drama queen." She mumbled, grabbing a handful of blueberries and kissing his cheek. "Ino's gonna be here any minute, see you tonight!"

"Bye 'Kura—and tell that girl to slow down! I'm getting tired of turning the other way when she's going twenty over the limit. It's going against my _Enforcer of the Law _oath."

"You totally pulled that out of your ass." She popped three blueberries into her mouth.

"Watch your mouth!"

"Yeah, yeah." She shoved the rest in her mouth, "There's her car," she pointed out the kitchen window. "Pizza night, right?"

"Yup; and I know! Pineapples and ham!"

"No ham, Ino's coming over today—love you, Dad!" she screeched, swinging the front door open. "I'm not locking the door!"

-x-

"Why is everybody staring at you?"

The moment the pair stepped on campus, Sakura could feel everyone's eyes.

Ino snorted. "They're definitely looking at you."

"_What_?"

Ino shrugged. "From my understanding, you threatened the biggest thug at our school, right after sexually assaulting the elusive, most popular boy at school."

"Excuse me, Ino?"

Ino shrugged again. "I'm just telling you what I've heard. Several times—with diverse variations of course. Some insist you put some voodoo curse on Sasuke. I mean, it's plausible, I suppose. You're hair is this _witchy _pink. Seriously, who has p—"

"Ino! This is serious! The last thing I need is a bunch of insane girls planning my assassination!"

"If you hadn't left his fan club in such a huff and puff, they wouldn't hate you so much." Ino shrugged again, and Sakura glowered at her inattention. "If I do recall, you stomped into the room and burned your membership card and then screeched out some incantation. Honestly, if you think about it, there are a lot of rumors concerning your supernaturalism."

"I wasn't even in his fanclub!" Sakura threw her hands up, exasperated. "And I'm all human!" She groaned. "Ino, what am I going to do?"

_Again_, Ino shrugged and Sakura considered smackin' a bitch. "Ignore it."

Sakura gnawed at her bottom lip. "That actually just might work."

"Thank me later, Sakura. I gotta talk to Asuma-sensei about my community service."

-x-

_Create: New Message [SMS]  
Select Contact: Ino Y  
Message: Your advice effin' sucks._

First hour was ending, and this whole _'ignore it'_ thing was far from effective. If anything, it riled the girls up even more.

After Sakura had politely refused to answer any questions, the girls had moved to ask Sasuke, shooting her looks dirtier that Naruto's laundry.

"You're irritating me. _Leave_."

Alas, his cranky mood just had to be Sakura's fault, _somehow_. Therefore, the entire hour went on with girls turning to give her looks that promised the most violent of deaths.

These looks turned into _–and mutilating your dead body before devouring it_ looks when Sakura daringly stuck her tongue out at them and smiled sweetly.

But, honestly. Sakura wished she could say that she gave a shit what a swarm of dimwitted girls thought, but she'd always been taught lying was bad.

With that train of thought, Sakura recalled the end of junior year and Sasuke's snarky face.

How exactly was it that everything in her life somehow related to him?

-x-

Sakura was more than ready to go home when Kakashi finally dismissed them. Trudging to the front of the school, Sakura let out a moan, massaging her wrist. Detention had consisted of grading (which was bad enough); but of course, Sasuke had opened his big mouth.

"_Remind me again why we're doing your job?"_

Smart mouthed brat.

'_I will not question my phenomenal English teacher and will stop being an antisocial creep.'_

Sakura had begun to laugh hysterically at his punishment—only to find that she had her own variation of the sentence to write—_200 times_.

She almost stabbed Sasuke in the eye.

She leaned against the wall, sure to avoid any gum (all of which would be gone by the next day; the school had a perfect image to maintain) and she began mumbling to herself, incensing herself further as she walked down the now deserted hallways.

"I only have to do this 'til next Thursday." She assured herself. '_Five more detentions to freedom.'_

-x-

_Riiing! Riiing! Riiing!_

"Sasuke, Sakura." Kakashi didn't look up from his desk. "Come here for a moment—don't worry, I'll write you two passes to your next class."

Both stood by his desk in tense silence until he finally spoke up. "Today, you two will be attending detention in Room 10c."

Sakura did not even take a moment to think when she blurted out: "Kakashi-sensei, no, no, no!"

Sakura clasped her hands together, pleading. "I'm begging you, sensei."

He chortled heartily, scratching his bearded chin, as if actually thinking about changing his mind.

"Kakashi-sensei, _please_! I can't go to actual _detention_. I-I…" her voice trailed off and she shook her head vigorously. "Sensei, no!"

"Do you consider it beneath you?" _'Yes, I freakin' do.'_

"No, of course not! I… I just…"

"She's petrified. It's not something she could handle."

Sakura whipped her head to the side and emitted the smallest of growls. She did _not_ need his input. "I could handle it fine," she insisted hotly, even though he had hit how she was feeling right on the mark. "It's just—I would rather grade papers." She finished weakly.

"I'm sure you would," he continued chuckling, "You grade harder than I do, Sakura." He opened a drawer in his desk pulling out late passes. "But, that's not an option. I have…a _commitment _I need to take care of today. I'm sorry, Sakura but I'm sure you'll be perfectly fine." He gave her a wide smile, handing each of them a green pass.

"I…" she began picking at her nail polish. "Hai, sensei." She mumbled, defeated, taking the pass. She folded it, putting it in her pocket and roughly shoving passed Sasuke on her way out of the room, hopeful that he understood that yes, she blamed this on him, too.

Walking towards the b building, she heard Sasuke call after her:

"You're scared of _detention_?"

"Excuse me?"

"'_Oh, detention! I can't, sensei! I just can't!_'" He mimicked. "It's pathetic."

Sakura chewed at her bottom lip. "You have some nerve, Sasuke. Where do you get off thinking you have the right to pass any judgment on me? I mean, coming from a guy who thinks nobody is worthy of breathing the same air as him? Sorry to say that I have trouble actually giving thought to anything that comes out of your mouth." Words began pushing themselves up her throat and she simply kept talking.

"You honestly act as if you're some sort of God. _That's _pathetic. _You're _pathetic. You don't seem to comprehend that you're just another person. Wait, what am I saying? You're _Uchiha Sasuke. _Uchiha Sasuke, a prince among peasants—do not even dare to look at him. After all, he's being fairly kind, granting you with the blessing of his company—so you better damn well appreciate it!"

"And, you know what? Yeah. You're right. I _am _scared. I'll admit it. I'm also happy, sad and angry. All of which you have no experience with. You've closed yourself into this little box of _'no one will ever understand me' _but you seem to forget that that's because you won't let anybody try! It's utter bullshit! Your cynicism and distrust of everyone. This may surprise you, you narcissistic moron, but not everyone is obsessed with your face or your bank account." She practically spat. "Get over yourself."

He did not look the slightest bit fazed and Sakura was so out of breath, she was sure she was about to pass out.

"I'm done." She stated, more for the sake of her own sanity, that she really was finished. With everything related to _him_.

But telling herself that just felt like déjà vu.

-x-

Her back actually hurt from being so hunched over, and she glanced at the clock, too scared to let out the exasperated breath that was building in her chest when she saw that it was only 2:24. She dug her teeth into her bottom lip and risked pulling out her phone, mindlessly pressing the keys.

_Slam!_

She almost dropped her phone and jolted upright, her back cracking gratefully, as she stared at the door.

"Gaara, you're only half an hour late." _Detention Lady_ (as Sakura had aptly named her) sneered.

He didn't even bother to shrug, staring at her impassively.

"Do you want an invitation? Take a seat."

She willed herself to stop staring, but she _couldn't_. She was terrified into stillness, but at the same time, she had come to the conclusion that she had never noticed how _beautiful _the slightly psychotic delinquent was.

He had a feminine quality, more on the pretty side than handsome. He was unusually thin, considering what he was capable of doing.

A flashback of Lee's battered body crossed her mind and she shuddered. "Freakin' sociopath."

She only noticed that he had sat down next to her when she heard the chair screech against the tile floor.

'_Oh, God.'_

-x-

_2:33_

Not even ten minutes had gone by.

Sakura did not think it was possible to be so still. Her eyes were glued on the clock at the front of the room and her fingers were in her lap, beginning to cramp terribly.

"I'll be back," Detention lady said, which was a complete lie—she had no intention of coming back until the clock struck four. "Now, I want silence while I'm gone—and stay in your seats!"

The students in the room did not even bother to wait until she was out of the room to erupt in noise.

"So, you think I'm a sociopath?"

'_OH, GOD.'_

-x-

Sakura had stuttered through a few sentences, before her survival instincts kicked in. However, her _survival instincts _were few and revolved around babbling about everything.

"—and that's why I'm here. Yup. If I said I was mad, I'd be lying. I was downright furious. I mean, thanks to Sasuke-k—" she snapped an elastic on her wrist, "No, bad Sakura. It was his fault though. Uchiha Sasuke. You know him? Everyone knows him. He's an imbecile. And on top of that there's this whole bet thing. Kissing 100 guys? What sort of insanity is that? I mean. What stupidity is that? Right?" She giggled nervously, running her fingers through her short hair and pulling at the ends.

"You talk a lot."

"When I'm nervous I tend to do that. I don't know if you're aware, but you have a reputation as Look-at-me-funny-and-I'll-kick-your-ass-so-hard-you-won't-be-able-to-sit-again guy. I, of course, pay no heed to rumors." She let out a somewhat hysterical laugh. "No heed. That's my reputation, you know? No heed girl!"

His only response was to blink.

'_You're a real social butterfly, aren't you?'_

"Why don't you say that again?"

"No thanks." She smiled as brilliantly as she possibly could.

-x-

"I was under the assumption that your reputation was Madly-in-love-with-Sasuke girl."

Sakura's jaw almost unhinged and she turned to gawk incredulously at the ginger. _'Répétez s'il vous plait?'_

Not only had 56 _freakin'_ minutes elapsed since that conversation but the fact that he brought that up irked her beyond comprehension.

"And who the hell is your source exactly?" she snapped as if he was just another simpleminded high school boy and _not_ Gaara.

With an indifferent shrug he turned and she followed his gaze to his sister.

_Temari._

Sakura contemplated curling up in a ball when said Super Senior caught her staring and proceeded to give her the dirtiest look Sakura had ever seen in her life.

'_The messes Sasuke gets me into…'_

"Well," Sakura cleared her throat loudly. "I was never Madly-in-love-with-Sasuke girl, thank you very much. In fact, I was quite indifferent—and recently that indifference has evolved into a hate that consumes my entire soul."

Gaara stared at her and Sakura took note of the colour of his eyes—they were perfect for a Homecoming dress.

"The line between love and hate is paper-thin."

She snorted. "Didn't take you for the type to indulge in the idiocy of clichés."

"I suppose you took me for a sociopathic lunatic with murderous tendencies?" He questioned, his tone harsh.

"I…" Sakura pulled at her bottom lip with her teeth.

He let out a mirthless laugh, "If you harbor some sort of grudge against me because of something that happened two years ago, you exceed pathetic. If I gave a damn what you thought, I'd ask you to keep in mind that your imbecilic bowl-head friend is a complete nutcase and insinuated about things that he knew nothing about."

Sakura's voice shriveled away, and she didn't even bother to defend Lee. (After all, Lee did have a propensity to overdramatize and jump to conclusions).

"Don't worry; I don't give two shits what _Madly-in-love-with-Sasuke _girl thinks about me."

He stood up and walked out of the room, leaving the room fifteen degrees colder.

-x-

The next day consisted of Sakura hunting down the redhead, finally succeeding when she saw him at lunch.

Pushing the worrisome butterflies in her stomach aside and ran to him.

"G-Gaara-san!" she inhaled a deep breath when she'd finally caught up with him.

He barely spared her a glance, continuing on his way.

"Gaara-san, please!" She grabbed his arm boldly. "I wanted to talk to you." She cleared her throat. "_Apologize, _actually."

"Didn't I tell you I don't give a shit?"

"Well, I do." She tightened her grip on his forearm, as if that would prevent him from leaving, "I'm sorry. I'm genuinely sorry. I was completely wrong and you have every right to call me an idiot, or dumbass or whatever else you deem fit. I made an assumption like every other high school girl does, and I've always considered myself about the average teenaged mind." She grew hopeful when his mouth twitched upwards.

She took another breath, "But you can't judge me like that, either. Yeah, I was madly in love with Uchiha Sasuke. But I'm done. I went through knee-deep shit day after day and it hurt more and more every day and I wasn't another stupid girl hell-bent on living with him in a beautiful beach house. I loved him… I think. And now there's this whole bet thing and instead of pushing him away, I've given myself a reason to talk to him every day at the price of whoring myself out to every Tom, Dick and Harry." Her voice trailed off and she pinched the bridge of her nose and her arm simultaneously—where did that rant about Sasuke come from? "High school just sucks."

He overlooked her explosion of feelings. "I've heard of the bet, it's even gotten around to us kids, bound for state prisons." Sakura took his joke as _'you're forgiven.'_ And she grinned. "I'm actually surprised the Queen of England hasn't called me up about it."

He tucked his hands into his pockets and nodded, his green-blue eyes very solemn all of a sudden. "100 guys."

Unsure of whether it was a question, Sakura "yup"-ed, popping her 'p.'

"Uchiha's a fool." Sakura looked at Gaara. "I've always wanted to fight the guy." He mused aloud, more to himself than Sakura, who just nodded silently, clashing with an urge to defend him. _'Hey, he might be a dumbass, but only I have the honor of calling him out on it!'_

She was pulled out of her thoughts when Gaara gently caught her wrist and pulled her in for a kiss.

'_Wait, what?'_

Sakura berated herself for jumping to such farfetched conclusions, looking back the redhead, her eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets when she took in that she was right; Gaara really was about to kiss her.

'_Holy shit.'_

A million thoughts whizzed through her always on-the-go mind in the three seconds that he took to press his lips to hers in a chaste kiss.

_One, _was that was this bet was ridiculous. Kissing one hundred guys over the nine months left in the school year? Because contracting syphilis would be _oh so _enjoyable. _However_, backing out would mean that Sasuke won. That after being tortured by his existence, he would come out victorious. After crushing her as if she was insignicant, he would _win. _She mentally crossed out that notion. She couldn't back out, _no. _But what exactly did keeping up this stupid game entail? Was this just another game to Sasuke? If that was the case, he won either way—and at the end of the day she was a coward or a slut.

'_Damned if I do, damned if I don't.'_

And with that reasoning, Sakura tentatively responded to his kiss, closing her eyes.

He pulled away and let out a low laugh, which she returned half-heartedly, her eyes trained on the other side of the cafeteria, where the center of her world was standing, his expression unreadable. Her stomach twisted uncomfortably and she looked down at her hands. _'I'm over you.'_

She might lose, she figured, but there was no way she was going down without a kicking, screaming fight.

* * *

_Lesbionest. This chapter sucked hairy balls. I felt compelled to give you guys something though (I recall saying I'd get chapter two out at the end of February…) so here ya go, I pulled this piece of crap straight of out of my asshole… excuse my French…. And to anyone who might be like "WTF is with Sakura and venting to everyone?" Bear in mind that she's kept these feelings bottled up for most of high school… she was a bomb waiting to explode... and the end is rushed, I know. I'm posting this at midnight on a Sunday night. I'm tired, and I'll take the time to fix it later... maybe... possibly..._ eh.

_Anyhow, to anyone who wants me to post the original… I'm positively flattered that you enjoyed reading it, and maybe I will post it (_some day_) but not until this story is good and done._

_& to end my AN, another question because I'm the biggest creep on this side of the planet. Are you male or female? (Answering my last question, I currently reside in Arizona, USA—a lot of you live in neighboring states! :D)_

_&& I just thought I'd mention I'm listening to Take Care by Drake (ft. Rihanna). Holy crackers and toast, is that song amazing... and reviews are much appreciated! :]  
_


	3. ginger mixups & kiss thievery

**I'm a cool cat. Super cool cat. I'M A SUPAH KEWL KAHT. **

**[Insert inappropriate disclaimer about what I would do to the main character if I owned **_blank_**.]**

* * *

_kisses: one _12:36 pm

Uchiha Sasuke was not raised to know how to properly express his emotions. To top off this dilemma, he was a testosterone filled male, refusing to emasculate himself with utter bullshit like _feelings._

Another vital aspect of being a man, however, is that the only _feeling _you're allowed to express freely is rage.

But then again, Sasuke had yet to lose his cool. _Ever_.

(Well, except that one time earlier in the week…)

With that, he caught Sakura's eye, sending her one of his infamous smirks and with a hapless shrug he held up one finger.

Even from across the massive cafeteria he could see her fists clench as she turned the other way.

"You're a real asshole." Sasuke spared his friend a glance, who was freely staring at Sakura who was swiftly leaving the cafeteria.

"I learned from the best." Sasuke let out a hollow, humorless laugh, roughly pushing passed his friend and out the other exit.

-x-

After he had considerably cooled down, Sasuke made his way back to lunch. As he walked in, a hush fell over the crowd.

Without a doubt, it was because of his and Sakura's little wager—it was the most exciting thing that had happened since some pyromaniac burnt down another high school and 400 students transferred here.

And that happened just about 50 years ago.

_Speaking of transfers… _Sasuke eyes scanned the cafeteria until he saw the redhead, who was sitting with his hands folded and his chin resting lazily on the table.

Just _looking _at him made Sasuke's blood boil.

As if sensing someone looking at him, Gaara looked up and fixed his gaze on Sasuke, _smirking_.

Sasuke's pride took to the driver's seat when he walked across the cafeteria, one purpose in mind. If possible, the cafeteria shushed further and the lunch ladies scampered out of the canteen, searching for security.

Gaara let out a low chuckle and stood up when Sasuke reached his table. "Was there something you needed, _Sasuke_?"

Sasuke's fist itched and his mouth stayed firmly in a grim line.

"I'm gonna go with 'no'," Gaara brushed passed him, telling him over his shoulder. "I suppose I'll catch you later, Sasuke. I think I'll go join Sakura."

And Sasuke was seeing red.

He spun around, fast enough that no one really got what was happening until Sasuke had roughly grabbed the back of Gaara's shirt, turned him around, and punched him hard enough in the nose to break it.

Gaara let out a slightly hysterical laugh that sounded far from sane, spitting blood out to his left and wiping his bleeding nose before lunging at the enraged dark-haired teenager.

-x-

"Both of you are fuckin' idiots!" Naruto ignored the disapprovingly stern look on the secretary's face. "I go to take a piss and I come back and both of you—"

"Naruto, shut up."

In response, Naruto smacked Sasuke upside his head. "No, you shut the hell up and let me rant!"

Gaara snickered.

"You shut up, too! God, you two are definitely the biggest dumbasses I know! I didn't even know you two _knew _each other! What the hell were you fighting for?"

_Sakura._

"He's angry because I kissed his girlfriend." Gaara shrugged indifferently, wrinkling his nose and tossing the tissue into the trash can.

"Karin?"

Sasuke let out an uncharacteristic groan. "_No. _Not her."

"Haruno Sakura," Gaara filled in, giving Sasuke a smug smile.

Sasuke growled. "Fuck off, I don't care."

"Lying little shit."

"I _don't_. She's annoying. A majority of the time, I cannot even stand being in the same roo—"

Before Sasuke could finish, Naruto had punched him in the face.

The secretary stuttered unintelligibly. "_Uzumaki_! What in God's name are you doing?"

"I realize you're an ignorant little shit, but someday soon you should learn to shut the fuck up."

Sasuke rubbed his sore jaw, giving the blond a glare that made the secretary nervous.

"Tell Sarutobi I'll come by afterschool for whatever punishment he has lined up." Naruto mumbled quickly, just loud enough for the secretary to hear—who in turn, stammered inarticulately. He did not even wait for her to reply when he walked out of the office, giving Gaara's arm an uncomfortably hard squeeze as he left, whispering something in his ear barely loud enough for Sasuke to hear.

"Do _not _fuck with her."

And the door shut with a gentle click.

The office filled with deafening stillness that further terrified the mousey secretary. "Y-You two sit quietly. I need to go make copies of this." There was no authority in her voice as she scurried down the hall.

"Uchiha Sasuke, you're a bigger dumbass than I initially assumed."

"Care to repeat that, Sabaku?"

"You're honestly entirely unaware of your surroundings. Have you spent your whole life in a box?"

Sasuke just sat stone-still, staring at the blank wall in front of him.

"Your emo bitching is irritating. Everyone recognizes that your life sucks but get the hell over it."

"…"

"You're a real shit, you know that? I can't believe that Naruto is your friend."

Sasuke's head snapped to the side. "You don't know anyth—"

"Shut the fuck up." Gaara murmured darkly. "Be fucking grateful I don't beat your face in; you desperately need some sense beat into you."

"What the hell are you going off about?"

"You really _are _as stupid as you look."

And what Gaara told him stunned Sasuke into absolute silence.

**x**

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**-x-**

**100 Kisses**

_ginger mix-ups & kiss-thievery_

**-x-**

"I cannot believe you did it!" Ino shrieked, jumping up excitedly. "Good God, Sakura! Where did you suddenly grow these freakin' massive balls?"

Sakura flushed, embarrassed by her volume and the attention from people it was attracting. "We made a bet, Ino! You knew about it! Now hush up and have a seat!"

Ino seemed to finally notice the bizarre looks being thrown their way and she sat back down, crossing her arms. "I'm just in awe of you, Sakura. I'm pretty sure you just became my hero."

"Ino, really. Making a bet because you can't seem to keep your mouth shut is hardly admirable." Sakura told her dryly.

Ino shrugged, sipping her Kiwi-Pineapple smoothie. "This is going to blow way, way, _way _out of proportion by Monday, 'Kura."

Sakura banged her forehead against the table. "It's already _way _out of proportion—if I do recall I molested Sasuke and beat up Gaara." She groaned, "Shit!" she cursed, meekly ducking when an elderly woman gave her a harsh look. "Another reason to dread Mondays. My reputation will go from—"

"Madly-in-love-with-Sasuke girl."

"_Very intelligent _top ten percentile badass to prostitute-in-training." She cleared her throat loudly, flinging a crinkled napkin at Ino's face.

"Well," Sakura barely stifled her laughter when Ino loudly cleared her throat, standing up. "We must find you suitable attire for your new role in the society of KHS!"

Sakura wrinkled her nose and moved to protest, but Ino was already half way out of the food court. "Come forth my grasshopper-hooker!"

The flabbergasted looks made her laugh and want to disappear at the same time as she chased after her best friend.

-x-

"I still can't believe you actually convinced me to buy something."

"And I still can't believe you kissed Gaara, so my thinking is that we're even."

Sakura and Ino were currently sitting at the former's house, flipping aimlessly through the channels and munching on leftover pizza.

_Zzzzz! Zz! Zz! Zzzzz!_

"Aren't you Little Miss Popular."

Ino gave a shrug, "I can't help that I'm perfect."

"And oh so modest!"

"Full package, I know." Ino didn't even glance up, texting furiously on her phone. "Will you go try on the shirt you just bought? I want to see it again."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Why? I'm gonna return it—it was $40. Your convincing powers scare me sometimes."

"Honestly, $40 is practically nothing—especially since this shirt is something you'll have forever. Now go put it on," Ino waved a dismissive hand and Sakura was sure to stick her greasy fingers in the blonde's face before going to the bathroom to put on her new shirt.

-x-

"It's bloody perfect! _Blimey_!" Ino cried, "Harry Potter was on," she explained her English accent when Sakura raised an eyebrow at her.

Nodding, Sakura twirled. "It is really cute…" her voice trailed off and she fingered the soft, blue material.

"And the scoop neck makes it look like you have boobs!"

"Hey, hey, hey. You. Blonde-bimbo-bitch. Shut up." Sakura snapped her fingers in Ino's direction, twirling again, watching her reflection in the living room window.

"It really is cute. I have the best taste," Ino's pride swelled up like a balloon and she grinned. "So, you keeping it?"

Sakura pulled the hem down and twirled one more time before nodding an affirmative.

"Great! You can wear it tonight—we're going to _tol13._"

'_Eh?'_

-x-

In some miraculous and magical way, Ino had convinced Sakura to go to the club with her.

"_We're gonna be 18 in a couple months anyways!"_

"_You _just _turned 17!"_

Alas, after no-ing for several minutes, Ino brought out the big guns.

"_Like, fifty kids from our school are gonna be there! It'll be fun, Sakura! Didn't you say you want to live it up? And nobody says you have to drink… if you don't want to I won't either! W-Wait. I take that back!"_

Sakura agreed in the end, no thanks to Ino's terrible argument. It was true—Sakura had promised herself that she would live it up at least a little—and that did not mean using butter instead of oil.

She was going to be stupid like it was nobody's business.

"This is going to be so much fun!" Ino linked elbows with Sakura—preventing her from making a last minute escape to the library that was a fifteen minute walk away. "Oh, no you don't! You look _hot_. We're going to have fun like we're cool college girls and not hopeless little high schoolers!"

As soon as they were through the door (carding had been Sakura's last hope), Ino let out an excited holler, throwing her hands in the air.

Sakura stared at the club in a mixture of awe and trepidation, unlinking herself from Ino. "I still can't believe I'm here—my dad's a cop!" Her jaw dropped and she repeated to herself, "My dad's a cop… What the hell am I doing here? Oh _God_." She turned to grab Ino and pull her out of the club but found her gone.

'_Oh shit.'_

-x-

"Oof!" Sakura slammed into a taller girl, nearly toppling over. "Ugh, sorry!" she smiled weakly, adjusting the hem of her shirt.

"No problem," The brunette squinted at Sakura. "I like your hair, by the way. Can't see your roots _at all_. Impressive."

Sakura grinned, "It's natural, I swear. My genes are pretty screwed up, eh?"

The brunette's eyes widened. "Same. My hair refuses to grow passed my shoulders. It legitimately just _stops_. Malarkey, I say!"

Sakura laughed as the brunette bid her adieu. _'No, waaait! You're normal!'_ Sakura reached forward, grabbing her upper arm. "Wait a minute!" she sucked in a deep breath.

The brunette cocked an eyebrow at her. "Okay, princess."

Sakura bit her bottom lip, "Mind if I hang with you?" She inwardly smacked herself for her desperateness and lameness. "I sorta lost my crazy blonde friend."

The girl barked out a laugh that made Sakura a bit self-conscious, "I saw that girl run through here with a Zombie like a minute ago."

Sakura laughed hesitantly and Tenten guffawed louder. "It's a _drink_." She clarified. "And a strong one at that. She's going to be drunker than hell by 10:30."

Sakura laughed nervously—dealing with a drunk blonde? _No, thank you._

"And hell yeah! My friend's in the bathroom hooking up with some thirty-five year old." The brunette wrinkled her nose in disgust. "My name's Tenten, by the way." She grabbed Sakura's hand, shaking it firmly

"Sakura." She withheld her sigh of relief at finding someone normal (as far as she could tell).

"I'm about to hit up the bar." Tenten shouted over the blaring music as they maneuvered through the crowd. "You want anything?"

"I honestly don't drink." She confessed. "So, preferably something with little alcohol."

"Mmm," Tenten thought out loud. "I got this!" she tapped the bar counter, grinning at the bar tender. "I'll take a French 75 and my friend's gonna have a 7&7, quarter Whiskey."

The bartender nodded once and Tenten turned to Sakura. "A 7&7 is usually half-Whiskey half-7up," she explained. "I ordered less than that for you though, it'll just taste like pop, I swear!" She crossed her heart, still smiling broadly.

"So, how old are you?"

"S—Twenty-one." Sakura stammered.

Tenten grinned. "Underage?"

Sakura looked absolutely horrorstricken as scenarios with her dad and his dramatic disappointment played out in her head.

"Calm down," Tenten punched Sakura lightly in the arm. "Me too. I'm seventeen."

Sakura let out a relieved sigh. "Me too—I'll be eighteen in March."

Tenten beamed impishly. "Same! And trust me when I say that by your reaction, anybody could tell you were underage. You were like a lamb in a lion's den." She guffawed and Sakura's face reddened from embarrassment.

"I'm gonna guess you're a KHS kid?" Sakura nodded in surprise. "How'd you know?"

A shrug was her response. "Lucky guess, I suppose. I'm at SKA. Coaches there are amazing. Soccer's my life."

Sakura opened her mouth to reply when the bartender reappeared, two drinks in hand. "Two drinks on the house, for two beautiful ladies." He winked mischievously and Sakura flushed darkly as he made his way to the other side of the counter.

"I wonder what he'd say if he figured out we're jailbait?" Tenten pondered out loud, taking the tiniest sip of her drink.

Sakura snorted. "As long as no cops get involved, I'm sure he wouldn't give two flying shits." _'Yeah, but my dad's the most seriously ridiculous cop in this freakin' city.'_

Tenten nodded. "That's pretty true."

About thirty seconds passed when Sakura came to a horror-striking realization:

The awkward silence between not-even-acquaintances had begun.

-x-

Sakura refused to let the awkwardness continue and she opened her big mouth.

"Wanna hear about a really stupid bet I made?" She asked, knowing it was a conversation that could keep going until dawn.

Tenten took another gulp of her drink, squinting at Sakura. "I love stupid. Carry on."

Sakura nodded. "It's pretty ridiculous," she took her first sip of her drink, relishing in the fizz that bubbled in her mouth. "I bet this kid I could kiss 100 guys by June."

Tenten snorted into her drink. "You _what_? Do you _want _a sexually transmitted disease?"

"Yes, it's my dream to eventually contract HIV." She bit out sarcastically. "I don't know. He just gets to me. I wanted to get him to shut up."

"Hey, don't fret. I know the feeling! I've been friends with this guy since we were, like, 10 and he's always been a slight douchebag but he seems to have upped it in the last two years. Can't be in the same room as him for more than two minutes without wanting to gauge my own eyes out—he's all _aloof_ and _cool_ or something. Whatever people want to call it, I think he's a faggot."

"Sounds just like my guy. He thinks no one understands him and never talks to anybody. He's a loner kid." _'—that I was in love with for three years.'_

Tenten wiped her eyes of imaginary tears, holding her glass up for a toast. "Sakura, I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship."

-x-

Forty-five minutes later, Sakura felt like she'd known Tenten for years.

(Because saying 'since the beginning of time' would be an exaggeration.)

"—_Gaara?_ I've heard of him! His sister's Temari, right?" Sakura nodded. "That bitch punched me in the face a couple years ago at a match! My cheek was the size of a freakin' melon!"

Sakura shuddered. "I wouldn't eff with her."

"Hey, I can f—"

"_Sakuuuuraaaa!" _Out of nowhere, Ino had latched onto Sakura's arm like a leech. Her cheeks were rosy from the alcohol. "All the guys keep trynuh hum' me! I'm jus' trynuh da'ce ya know?" Her words progressively slurred. "I mea'." She paused, grinning brightly at Tenten. "I'm already in la la la _la la laaaaa_…" Ino leaned her head against Sakura's shoulder, humming to herself.

"Meet Ino." Sakura said dryly, wrenching Ino's manicured claws off of her arm and sitting her down in the seat next to her. "Please excuse her. She's usually pleasantly sober—and when she's drunk, she chooses to be an idiot. She'll sober up like _that," _Sakura snapped her fingers, "With the right encouragement."

Tenten laughed. "It's making me laugh, so it's all good." Tenten peered behind Sakura. "Hey… isn't that kiss _uno_? Ginger, tall and leaning against the bar like some sort of badass?"

Sakura whipped her head around, and sure enough, there was a redhead by the bar. "I should go say 'hi,' I don't want him to think I'm rude."

Sakura began weaving through the crowd when she heard her new friend shriek behind her. "Go get some Ronald McDonald McLovin'! But don't give him your soul!"

'_The start of a beautiful friendship, indeed.'_

-x-

"Scotches on the rocks!" Naruto was smiling like a freakin' baboon as he made his way to the table, balancing four shots on each hand.

Sasuke barely rolled his eyes, downing one of the shots and enjoying the warmth slide down his throat. "I don't even know why I came." He grunted.

"Sasuke-kun!" Naruto batted his eyelashes in a girlish fashion. "Because you bruised my knuckles when I punched you in the face!" For emphasis, he pinched Sasuke's cheek which was a slightly purpling colour.

"Fuck off." He reached for another shot as Naruto spoke animatedly with their _friends_.

He closed his eyes, the booming music beginning to give him a migraine.

He stood up, and without a word, left the table.

(…To get more alcohol, of course!)

-x-

"Scotch, no ice." Sasuke turned around, waiting for his drink, and mindlessly scoping over the crowd. He was forced to do a double-take when a pink _blob_ caught his eye.

'_What the hell?'_

His eyes followed her as she twisted and turned through the crowd, making her way to the opposite end of the bar counter. He narrowed his eyes when she made her way to a familiar redhead.

'_How does she know him?'_

-x-

Sakura touched his upper arm lightly, a smile on her face. That smile quickly turned into utter mortification when he turned around to reveal that he was _not _Gaara.

His pointedly looked at her hair before giving the hand that was still on his arm the same look.

She quickly retracted her arm. "I am so sorry!" Her embarrassment continued to grow as she tried futilely to explain herself, stammering over her words. "Your hair—I thought you were someone else." She finished with, turning around and wishing the ground would swallow her whole as she walked back to the table where Tenten and Ino were chatting animatedly.

-x-

"_Sasori_." Sasuke said simply.

Sasori barely acknowledged the teenager. "Sasuke."

"Care you explain what just happened?"

The redhead turned to face Sasuke, crossing his arms over his chest. "Your brother's not here to make a fool out of you, and frankly, I don't have the time, so scurry along."

"_What just happened_?"

"Well, I ordered some Everclear—"

"Answer my question." Sasuke interrupted.

"I don't know what the hell you're talking about." Sasori snapped back, his impatience growing.

"How do you know her?"

Sasori pondered all the _hers _he knew for a moment, before remembering the strange girl who had babbled foolishly for two minutes before running off. _'Obviously, she had a little too many drinks, especially to act like such a fool.'_

"I didn't."

Sasuke crossed his arms. "Be honest, now." He took on a condescending tone that Sasori did _not _appreciate.

Realization suddenly dawned on Sasori when he remembered what Itachi had told him about Sasuke.

Sasori quite easily ignored Sasuke, skimming the crowd for the odd girl again.

He grinned widely, picking up his Everclear and downing it like an _effin' badass._

'_Time to get Sasuke's Powerpuff panties in a bunch.'_

-x-

"_Oh man_. I bet you blathered on for like two minutes when you figured out that he wasn't Gaara."

Sakura let out an embarrassed groan, covering her face with her hands. "I practically ran away _and _I tripped twice."

Tenten laughed in a very unladylike fashion and Ino began snorting—a habit that had helped in her earning the nickname Pig.

"Hello , again."

Sakura, not recognizing the voice, turned around and tried to slip under the table in shame when she saw that it was the guy from the bar. "Top of the evenin' to you!"

Tenten was holding her sides, which she was sure were going to explode from laughter and Ino was half asleep, her head on the table, as she stupidly sent her crush's girlfriend messages.

He looked amused as he leaned in. Sakura's palm went sweaty with the nervousness and discomfort that was pooling in her stomach.

"I-I…"

"You're actually quite attractive. I didn't peg you to be his type, but whatever riles him up is fine with me."

She didn't hear what he said as he pulled her up and whispered in her ear. "You're dancing with me, sweetheart."

"I-I…" Sakura looked to Tenten who had the widest of grins on his face and waved them off with nonchalance. "You over 21 kids have fun!"

Sakura's face visibly paled as Sasori pulled her to the dance floor.

-x-

"You're stiffer than a board," Sasori murmured in her ear, and she shivered, involuntarily.

"This isn't my usual scene," she shouted back, pulling away slightly. "I prefer books to booze."

He laughed and Sakura scowled. "What?"

"You aren't exactly an AA meeting's example of sobriety right now."

"I've had _one_ drink!" She chose to jokingly mock herself. "If you really must know, I'm always this much of a bumbling numbskull."

"That's comforting to hear. Considerably less irritating than a drunk."

Sakura gave him a half-hearted smile. _'At least he's honest.'_

He pulled her close again. "You really can't dance." Again, he was ghosting his words against her ear.

"I don't know how." Sakura almost patted her own back for being able to create a coherent sentence.

"There is no '_knowing how'_. Especially since this isn't something complicated—we're at a _club_. We aren't waltzing."

She could clearly hear the implied '—_you dunderhead.' _She shrugged. "I don't see the joy in having sweaty men rub their penises against my butt."

This made him crack another smile and he looked up, seeming to be concentrating on something.

And then unexpectedly, his hands were closing in around her waist as he was tilting her chin up and she was staring into his beautifully ordinary eyes and her fingers were clutching his shoulders.

'_What the hell is happening?'_

-x-

Sasuke was no fool. He was not one to succumb to the feelings bubbling inside of him—whether they be happy, angry or sad.

(He was also too much of a man to do so.)

It was not in his upbringing to yield to the heart. Calm, cool, collected. The three C's he had idolized in his brother that he was determined to carry on.

So, when Sasori dragged Sakura to the crowded dance floor, pulling her close under the bright, flashing lights, Sasuke did not even bat an eye.

And when his arms snaked around her waist and he pulled her closer—not even a _flinch_.

But when Sasuke witnessed Sasori _kiss_ her, suddenly he couldn't see clearly.

-x-

A moment after his lips had barely brushed againt hers, Sasuke seemed to come out of nowhere and punched the redhead with the extraordinary brown eyes in the face.

Sakura was too stunned to say anything as people began circling around them.

The redhead seemed unfazed, however. He rubbed his jaw, his eyes mischievous and his mouth in a firm line. "Itachi's right about fucking with you. It could become my new hobby." And then, he turned to Sakura and she noticed the tattoos that covered his neck and arms. _'I kissed a hoodlum.'_

"My name's Sasori."

"Don't fucking talk to her!"

Sakura flinched when he cussed _again_ in her presence. In the five years she'd known him, this was the second time and both times had been in the last five days.

"Sakura." She shot Sasuke a defiant look when he glowered at her.

"Well, Sakura. I need to be off—my associate has just arrived. See you later, Sasuke." He paused, with a smirk that was beyond Sasuke -_esque._ "Say 'hi' to Itachi, will you?"

He had barely taken two steps when Sasuke whirled around to face Sakura so he could take out the rest of his anger out on her.

His eyes their usual stormy black, her heartbeat was erratic when he came up to her, not even an inch away.

She met his gaze, accepting whatever challenge he had played out in his hand, she waited for the onslaught of terrible name calling.

Instead, his eyes softened and his fists unclenched.

She kept hold of his gaze, raising her head further. _'I'm not backing down,'_ She swore, refusing to break eye contact, even as he raised his hand—something she could see clearly through her peripheral vision.

Little sparks danced across her skin where he touched her face. He traced her bottom lip with the pad of his thumb, leaning in and pressing his forehead against hers.

_Perfect._

And just as quickly as the moment had come into existence, it was gone.

Leaving Sakura standing there like a love-struck fool.

-x-

He turned around abruptly, stalking away. It was far from romantic, the queasy feeling she left that churned in his stomach. It was sickening—unhealthy. It made him crazier than he already was. He needed to be _sane_—_completely _sane. She didn't help with that—something about her always riled him up. He could never keep face around her, and he hated that. He hated _her._

Sasuke was pulled out of his brooding, angry thoughts when he became aware of his surroundings, feeling a gaze trained in his direction. Surely enough, when he looked up, there was his best friend staring at him solemnly; his arms slacken at his sides, but his jaw tight and his eyes hard.

Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows at the blond questioningly as he quickly reverted back into his usual, boisterous and imbecilic persona. "I didn't get any damn alcohol!" He complained. "And I'm hungry!"

Sasuke let a small smile grace his face and he dug his car keys out of his pocket, tossing them to the completely sober blond who dangled the keys from his index finger. "Ichiraku's, idiot. I'm not sober enough to drive."

"Ichiraku's! Damn, I'm starving!"

"Heard you the first time, idiot. It's on me—no more than five bowls, you corpulent piece of shit."

Naruto pouted, wrapping an arm around Sasuke's shoulder. "_Yeah_, and five from you!"

Sasuke snorted, "If you crash my car I'll kill you, by the way."

Naruto grinned. "That's exactly how I feel about things I love."

And for the first time, Sasuke understood his double meaning as Gaara's words in the office rung in his ears, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

"_Naruto's twice as in love with her but he's no fool. But don't think he won't hesitate to piece her heart back together when you're done fucking up."_

-x-

Sakura made her way back to the table numbly, resolute on staring at the wall in utter shame and humiliation.

How exactly was it that she managed to become a total moron around him, without fail, day after day, month after month, year after _freakin' _year.

There, Tenten was looking at her with a mixture of impressed, aghast and astonishment.

"You live a soap opera?" Tenten guessed. "I look up from my drink and a high school version of Days of Our Lives with a _smidge _of Bold and Beautiful and a helluva lot of sexual tension is playing right before my eyes, our favourite ginger _gone_!" She finished with a scandalous tone.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Sexual tension?"

"_Please_. I could tell how badly you guys wanted to jump each other's bones from here. Horny little mother f—"

Sakura cleared her throat, implying that she wanted a change of conversation topic—preferably one that did not revolve around her sex life.

"I don't really blame you, though. He's a godsend. Who was that?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "He's the guy I told you about before and the most irritating _thing_ I've ever met. He makes me wish I had four arms, so I could castrate and strangle him at the same time."

"Darling, I think you should see a therapist about that."

Sakura stifled a laugh. "I'm _kidding. _Promise."

They were pulled out of their conversation by Ino, who began mumbling half-slurred. "Sakuuuura." She hiccupped. "I did something really stupid. Really, really, really stupid."

"That's a pretty normal occurrence for you, lovebug." Sakura grinned.

"I told Temari she should not be with Shika," she rested her head on the table again. "Because I've been in love with him since I was nine."

Sakura's banged her head against the table.

"It's only _fair_! She can't just transfer and _be _with him! I had dibs!"

"Ino, you're going to get yourself killed over a boy that isn't worth ten minutes of your day. He's going nowhere in life and he _smokes_."

"I don't care, I don't care, I don't care! I love him, Sakura. I love him so much." Sakura could feel her heart breaking at the conviction in Ino's voice and the wrenching way her bottom lip trembled with the onslaught of feelings and tears that was about to come.

"_You _should know, Sakura. Sasuke. Sasuke. Sasuke."

"Yeah, I should know—I _do _know. And look where it got me? I was a babbling fool for over three years and I cried myself to sleep for months on end. I bitched, as you so nicely put it, to you day in and day out," She lowered her voice. "And the worst part is I stopped caring about my hair! I had split ends up my ying-yang! Do you want hideous split ends?"

Ino miserably shook her head, looking horrified at the mere suggestion of split ends.

"Then smarten up, straighten up, and put a smile on your gorgeous face. We'll deal with this psycho-T thing tomorrow, when you're hung-over and in your right mind."

"I can kick her ass," Tenten offered. "I'd actually enjoy it. I'll never forgive that Amazon bitch."

Sakura cracked a smile as Ino launched herself over the table, wrapping her arms around Tenten and wailing her thanks out.

-x-

Sakura shuddered

Somebody was staring at her. _Hard_. She shuddered again, wrapping her arms around her shoulders, scoping her surroundings but everyone was too drunk at this point to have enough of an attention span to even form complete sentences.

She shook her head, mentally smacking yourself as she shivered again. '_Calm down, Sa—"_

"Are you cold?"

Sakura let out a shrill scream when she felt somebody's breath on her ear. She turned around, a fist already formed and sucker punched whoever it was straight in the nose.

"MY LOVE, HOW COULD YOU?"

Sakura gaped. "Lee, I'm sorry! I thought you were some kind of pervert!"

"I AM NO SUCH THING. I AM ONLY PERVERSE IN MY LOVE FOR YOU."

_Erm… okay?_

"Wait." Tenten pointed between the two. "You're _the _Sakura? As in the one that has _'alit a burning flame so bright that the intensity of a thousand suns could not match it_' in his heart?"

"Yes, my dear Tenten! This is that Sakura, indeed! The one that I would fight with passionate valor and honor with until the end! I would run the span of the Earth one hundred times for her! I would move oceans for her! I would—"

"We get it." Tenten raised a hand to silence him. She turned to Sakura "I've known your lover-boy here since elementary school." Sakura have Tenten a long look when she said 'lover-boy,' but nodded nonetheless. "Anyways, what are you doing here? I'm pretty sure Gai would literally have a cow if he knew you were at a club with preliminaries in a month."

"Oh, well." Lee coughed loudly. "I came to, uh, dance."

"…I see." Tenten raised an eyebrow, bringing her drink to her lips. "How about you tell me the truth now."

"I am…" He crossed an X over his chest.

She further raised an eyebrow.

"_Okay, fine!_" Lee caved, gesturing madly. "Neji asked me to check on you!"

"He _what_? Is he my mother?"

"He wanted to make sure you weren't doing anything bad," he swore helplessly, his eyes flicked over to the drink in her hand. "He's worried about you."

"Bullshit! Hyuuga's just a nosy little shit!" She growled. "I can do whatever the hell I want!"

"Wait." Sakura said slowly. "_Hyuuga_ Neji?" She could feel the squeal rising in her throat. "I would _die _for him to be worried about me! He's a Greek God! Absolutely _gorgeous_!" Sakura shut her mouth when Lee let out an indignant holler.

"That swine has stolen my woman! I will never forgive him! I once considered him a friend for the ages, but no more!" He grasped Sakura's hands. "I do not know what has made you fall in love with him, my unblemished spring flower, but I _will _win your love back!"

With that, Lee was racing out of _tol13._

Sakura pulled at the hem of her shirt and coughed. "He's a sweetheart, but a bit of an oddball."

Tenten nodded an affectionate smile on her face. "I'm gonna get him for spying on me for Neji, though. What is his issue? He's such a pretentious ignoramus! When I get a hold of him…" she let her voice trail of threateningly.

"…you will make sweet, sweet love to him?" Sakura chirped with a wink.

Tenten groaned. "Definitely _not_." She pulled out her phone, clumsily dropping it in her half-drunk state. She groaned, getting on her hands and knees to find it in the dark building.

"Aha!" She carefully inspecting it for cracks. Satisfied that there were none, she stood back up, "I thought for sure it would be br…_What the…_"

Tenten had come up from under the table to see Lee shoving his tongue down Sakura's throat, who looked extremely uncomfortable and was actually _flailing_.

"Good Lord..."

He pulled away with a pop, unaware of Sakura's mortification.

"_That_ was to help you, my dear cherry blossom, with the wager you have made with one of my many rivals UCHIHA SASUKE!" He punched the air above him. "I wished for you to complete the challenge and I have aided you in doing so!" He grabbed her hands. "I will see you on Monday, my sweet!"

And he was booking it out of there once again.

Sakura coughed, gingerly wiping his saliva off the corners of her mouth, giving Tenten a dark look as she stifled her laughter _barely_.

"Not _one_ word."

* * *

_Boys cuss a lot around each other. It's a guy thing. They think it makes their balls bigger or something._

…_my inspiration is fizzling into nothingness. Expect this to be another dull high school fic that has you cringing ): I may end up reposting this in the next few days because there a couple of details I didn't add 'cause I'm a lazy doucher :D… probably not though :)_

_I finished writing this to an English remix of the song 'Why this Kolaveri Di'_

_And here's a question I have ("again? WTF, WOMAN!"): What is your background? I PROMISE, I'M NOT SOME WEIRDO PERVERT IN YOUR CLOSET. I'm just nosy… and I have no friends :( AND IS ANYBODY ELSE NOT GETTING EMAILS FROM FANFICTION? WTF, MANZ.  
_

**review or I'll pimp slap a hoe like it's my job.**

much love xxoxoxoxoxxxooxoxxx

... _and just because I'm slightly retarded..._ **TEAM GALE. ;)**


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